Underwater Hockey

Last night I attempted to stay up until 6am to keep Jono Berry company, as it was his last night in China and he would be leaving for the airport at…you guessed it…6am. We ate dinner at Dong Bei Ren (they hadn’t run out of the mushroom dish! yes!). Then headed over to Windows Scoreboard for some drinking games (kings), card tricks, and breathing in second-hand smoke. Then we went to Velvet Lounge, which is very much not my scene…it’s much too cool for school, and I’m much too ridiculous a girl. Anyway, we found a table outside and were just chilling out, when my friend Emily brings over her new friend Chris Tommaso. We start chit chatting and it turns out that he plays underwater hockey. What the what? Underwater huh? No, you’re kidding right? Alas, no, ladies and gents. Such a sport is a real thing but is not a spectator sport and gets little to no publicity. Hmmm, what other sport is awesome and played worldwide but doesn’t get good publicity….I’m drawing a blank, folks. ;)

Check it out (also search it on youtube.com….I can’t add a link cuz China has deemed youtube.com worthy of censorship…even proxies won’t work with it):

http://www.underwaterhockeyworld.com/

Who knew?
Em

C.R.E.A.M.

I spent the past weekend exploring Macau - the Las Vegas of the East. I spent the vast majority of my time exploring the inside of the Wynn Casino while playing poker. Nothing like relieving crazy Chinese gamblers of their money. I ended up making a month and a half's wages after playing for one weekend! Its a shame that I hadn't visited Macau earlier... If I had known how easy the games were, I would have been going down every weekend. It's probably for the best though - playing poker isn't good for the health or the sleeping schedule (I basically played all night, slept in the morning, and explored the city in the afternoon).

In addition to being a gambling haven, Macau is also a really cool old Portuguese city. I had a great time wandering around the old city snapping pictures. It was bizarre to see old stone buildings and European architecture after so long in China. I'm surprised that I noticed something like architecture, but it is actually a shocking difference. All the other buildings in China seem to be either old school Chinese hutong-type buildings, modern skyscrapers, or 70's ex-soviet style dormitories. It's odd what you notice after a year in China...

Jon
P.S. For those who don't know C.R.E.A.M. = Cash Rules Everything Around Me (from the Wu Tang Clan)

Children’s Day

In the States, we have Mother’s Day and Father’s Day… and in China, today we had Children’s Day. To celebrate, the kindergartens where I teach had an English performance. They sang a few songs that they have learned in this semester. My afternoon kindergarten performed in the morning, so I had to missed their show, but I’m sure they did great.

Usually, parents come to the show while they ooh and aah at their way-overly dressed little dumplings. Unfortunately, foot-and-mouth disease has been going around (bizarre, I know…), so the schools are limiting the number of people in and out of the school. So only teachers were allowed to watch the show…which pretty much made the whole thing seem a little pointless. Why show off how well they can twirl if the only people watching are the folks who see those moves every day? But they were still so cute! Bonus: I only had to work a total of 40 minutes today, with no afternoon classes. Sweet leisure time!

I took some great photos of the kids, however, the proxy server is being a bum and won't let me upload any files. Hopefully this will be remedied and you will all be able to bask in the glow of the cuteness emitting from these little Chinese dumplings.

Ciao for now,
Em

Oh, Cruel Sun

Yesterday, I had a physiotherapy appointment to work on my back problem. It went really well. I started seeing a new doctor who seems really smart and has helped me tweak the exercises I was doing so that they’re more helpful and more fitted to what I need, and I’ve actually begun to feel a bit of improvement… Let’s just say, my back doesn’t hurt quite as much on a constant basis. Yes!

New news: in addition to swimming every other day, I’m also allowed to jog! Slowly, gradually, with great caution, but nonetheless, jog I shall. And jog I did. While the freesbisti did their thing today at the park, and while I attempted not to feel intense jealousy their ability to run and sprint and lay out with ease, I jogged around the field slooooooooooooooooowly for about 15 minutes. It hurt a little at first, but I got in a good groove. Ya hear that, Body! You’re gonna get better! Ha! Then I did my stretching routine, and watched the fit gals and girls scrimmage.

Even though the sun was blazing, I was so out of the habit of playing sports and hanging out outside that the concept of sunscreen didn’t even give me the courtesy of crossing my mind. Result: even though I’m wearing a tube top, it still looks like I’m wearing a regular tank top. Stark contrast between red and scarily pale. It doesn’t hurt (too much) and I haven’t started peeling (yet). Moisturize I will.

Lesson: even though it’s gazillions of miles away, the Sun will smack you up like nobody’s business. So take precautions. Use protection. ☺

- Emma

Shaq

I was on my way to a math tutoring job in Minhang (Chinese for demolished dead zone) and I was happily chatting away with my cabbie about the NBA finals. Side note: basketball is huge here and people love the NBA, especially Kobe. I hate Kobe and love Shaq, so I started talking to the cab driver about Shaq. He didn't seem to understand, so I said it slowly. Shaquille O'Neal. Then he got it and said "Oh, O'Neal. Women jiao ta O'Pang." A rough translation of this is "Oh, O'Neal. We call him O'Fat." Hilarious.

Jon

Pesky Censorship

The Chinese government's censorship of Blogger has made blogging more difficult than I had anticipated. They are slowly figuring out and shutting down the proxy servers that I've been using. Bah.

In any case, life is moving along here in Shanghai. The weather is consistently amazing. Almost every day the sun comes out and shines down brightly. It's wonderful - it's amazing how much sunlight can effect one's mood. (300 days of sunshine every year in Colorado!)

Recently, I've also been doing a lot of planning for our month-long trip in Western China. I'm ridiculously excited about this adventure! Spending 30 days exploring Xinjiang and Xizang has been one of my dreams since we arrived in China. I've been checking out information on the web and in guidebooks about the area and the pictures are amazing! It's going to be refreshing to get out of the mass of steel, concrete, and people and into a more natural environment, Oh man, I can't wait!

Jon

Censorship

With the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre coming up, the Chinese government decided that the best course of action would be to block Blogger.com (oh, and make it really hard for foreigners to acquire visas). Gah. So, so very annoying.

You might be thinking to yourself right now, "Self, if blogger is blocked in China and Jon is in China, then how is he updating the blog." This is a good question. Basically, there are a whole host of different proxy servers that can be used to get around the Great Firewall and effectively avoid the blocks that the PRC has instituted in all of its infinite wisdom. The government censorship is really doing nothing more than impede my ability to post quotidian posts about life over here. 加油，中国！

Anyways, this is the reason that I haven't been posting recently, but I will dig under the Great Firewall to bring you revolutionary news, such as what I had to eat yesterday (delicious pasta made by Emma) or the Ratatat concert that we're going to tomorrow...

Hope all is well in the outside world!

- Jon

Awesome

You can't do this on your bike...


Seen right outside my apartment last week...

- Jon

X-Games

About a week ago one of our friends gave us 4 free tickets to the Asian X Games. With nothing better to do on a Saturday morning, Emma, Kevin, Zoey, and I made our way out to watch the best alternative athletes in Asia as they skateboarded, rollerbladed, and jumped motorcycles. We poked around the grounds for a couple of hours and watched skateboarders do jumps on the halfpipe, rollerbladers zoom around their course, and extreme drink/food companies shamelessly promote their products (nothing like free shots of Mountain Dew!) I'd say that the two highlights for me were the motorcycle jumping (which was insane) and seeing how much change we could stick between Emma's toes (an astounding 8 RMB in 1 yuan coins and 8 RMB in jiao). Mostly though, it was really fun to relax and wander around the games. Here are some pictures!

Skateboarder doing sweet tricks

Motorcycle Madness

More Motorcycle Madness

Emma showing off her skills!

Me desperately trying to stretch my toes apart (to no avail)

How much money can you fit in between your toes?

- Jon

Jeju Pictures (Part 1)

View of the Ocean from the Hotel

Dinner, Pre-Rubix Chaos

Kevin doing what he does best

Post-changing Orange Fashion Show

Shanghai Seven

Throwing Action ShotPost-tournament Team Photo

- Jon

Fiesty Children

Most of my little students are charming and adorable and eager to learn, but some are a little….rambunctious. Not normal kid-rambunctious…bordering on defiant, which just doesn’t happen (or isn’t allowed) in China. Well, last week, a little punk (who has been pushing all of the teachers’ buttons for awhile) stood up from his miniature chair, walked into the middle of the room (we sit with the chairs in a horse-shoe shape), and projectile spat…yes, spat…on to the floor. I froze. I was so stunned. I expected the teacher to haul his ass into the hall and give him a piece of her mind…and hand…which I’ve seen to be the norm. But no. She just gave him a glaring look, and I proceeded with the lesson. Yikes.

I guess I give the kid kudos…it was a pretty ballsy move.

- Emma

Trashcan Smoker

A long time ago I talked about building a meat smoker in China. The project has been developing really slowly for a couple of months (mostly due to laziness, but it is also difficult to locate and acquire certain materials in China). Anyways, last week I was able to track down the last necessary piece (a very small hot plate) with the help of one of my students and TaoBao (China's version of eBay). With all the pieces in place, all that remained was a little metal cutting and hole punching. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the required tools, so yesterday Charlotte and I hit the road in search of tools.

We walked down Wulumuqi Lu past the fruit shops and flower ladies. Eventually we happened upon a bike repair man in an alley. This might sound a little sketchy for our readers outside of China, but its pretty much par for the course out here. So we asked the bike repair man if he could drill some holes in our trashcan/meat smoker and he said no problem, but his friend would have to bring a drill over. We're all just standing around in this alley waiting for the drill to arrive and the guy asks where we're from. We tell him that we're American and he starts talking about 9/11, Obama, and terrorists. It was really weird. Usually, when you tell people that you're American they just smile say "Obama" and give you the thumbs up or they just look at the other Chinese people smile and say "mei guo de" or American... Anyways, this goes on for a little while and then his friends arrives with the drill hops off and starts checking out the trashcan. He decides that it should be 50 RMB to drill 4 little holes and 1 big hole. His price estimate takes me by surprise and we deny it right off the bat. We try to bargain the guy down to 20, but he won't go any lower than 30 RMB. I don't understand why though... The job was for 5 minutes of labor. If I asked a mechanic in the US to drill the holes, he'd probably laugh and do it for free... In the end, the guy gets all angry at us and storms off with his drill and we carry the trashcan back to the apartment.

As we walk into the apartment complex, I realize that the complex's repair guys probably have the tools necessary for the job. We ask the security guards and we are led down to the underground repair man lair (basically a room where all the repair guys just sit around and chat all day). We explain the situation and sure enough, the guys pull out a couple of drills and we go to town on the trashcan. Everybody seemed to enjoy the process - I got the holes I needed and the repairmen thought the whole project was hilarious. We told them that the holes were for an art project...

All in all, it was a solid little adventure and now the smoker is ready for its first test! I'm sure you'll hear more about it in the near future!

- Jon

Heavy is the head that eats the crayons...

(One of my favorite quotes from the most recent 30 Rock episode)

It's been an eventful week or so. I've been a bit behind on the writing, but I'll try to just keep plugging along.

This past Sunday was one of my favorite days in Shanghai. Things started out in the morning with a cooking lesson from Phil's Mom. Emma and I subwayed over to Line 3 and met Phil at the train station. After a short walk through the pleasant early summer weather, we arrived at Phil's house and started cooking immediately. We all hung out in the kitchen while Phil's Mom began cooking. She taught us how to many tons of amazing Chinese dishes (hong shao niu rou, some crazy tofu wheat gluten thing, delicious monster shrimps, yummy lima-like beans). Emma was taking notes on the process and I was scribbling down all sorts of nonsense in Chinese. It was actually a pretty hilarious conversation to follow. I'd ask for the Chinese name for some sort of mushroom and Phil's Dad would tell me and then I'd write down the characters and ask some other question. Phil'd Dad would respond in Chinese (and sometimes Shanghainese) and I'd try to keep up with the conversation (Phil would back me up with English translations whenever necessary). It was a lot of fun just sitting in the kitchen and chatting! The meal itself was also amazing and Phil's parents were amazing hosts! Emma and I are going to invite them all over some time for a big Italian dinner. Everybody wins :)

After this glorious Chinese feast/cooking lesson we all made our way over to the Century Park fields for a 4-hour frisbee fest. Teams from Nanjing and Ningbo joined us for a 5-team friendly round robin. The weather was perfect and it was great to run around. Nothing like a little sunny frisbee after lunch :) It was awesome to have so many people from the Nanjing and Ningbo areas join us too. Their teams are really making progress and rapidly developing skills. It's great to see!

A good day isn't complete without a trip to the Dong Bei Ren restaurant for some cheap eats and cold beer. The food service was a bit slow (we arrived at 8pm which is too late apparently), but there was plenty of beer and lots of fun drinking games were played. My favorites involved overlapping hands slapping the table and counting games (which are surprisingly difficult when not played in your native language...)

All in all, a very successful day!

- Jon

Midget Obsession

One of my friends in Shanghai recently sent me this unbelievable article.

Lion Mutilates 42 Midgets in Cambodian Ring-Fight

An African Lion much like this is responsible for the death of 28 Cambodian Midgets

Spectators cheered as entire Cambodian Midget Fighting League squared off against African Lion

Tickets had been sold-out three weeks before the much anticipated fight, which took place in the city of Kâmpóng Chhnãng.

The fight was slated when an angry fan contested Yang Sihamoni, President of the CMFL, claiming that one lion could defeat his entire league of 42 fighters.

Sihamoni takes great pride in the league he helped create, as was conveyed in his recent advertising campaign for the CMFL that stated his midgets will "... take on anything; man, beast, or machine."

This campaign is believed to be what sparked the undisclosed fan to challenge the entire league to fight a lion; a challenge that Sihamoni readily accepted.

An African Lion (Panthera Leo) was shipped to centrally located Kâmpóng Chhnãng especially for the event, which took place last Saturday, April 30, 2005 in the city’s coliseum.

The Cambodian Government allowed the fight to take place, under the condition that they receive a 50% commission on each ticket sold, and that no cameras would be allowed in the arena.

The fight was called in only 12 minutes, after which 28 fighters were declared dead, while the other 14 suffered severe injuries including broken bones and lost limbs, rendering them unable to fight back.

Sihamoni was quoted before the fight stating that he felt since his fighters out-numbered the lion 42 to 1, that they “… could out-wit and out-muscle [it].”

Unfortunately, he was wrong.

You don't hear about that everyday... Unfortunately, I've been informed that its not true...

- Jon

Gregory Brothers

The Gregory Brothers rock my world!



Enjoy the video!

- Jon

Jeju: Part II (Frisbee)

There were all sorts of horror stories regarding the Jeju weather. Before we left for Jeju, veterans of the tournament told me stories of 35 mph winds in years past (wind is the bane of a frisbee player's existence). Luckily, the sun was shining and the skies were calm from Saturday morning until the end of the tournament. In fact, I don't think I could have asked for better weather. It was glorious!

I've been to tons of frisbee tournaments in a handful of countries and Jeju stands out in my mind as one of my favorites. The whole tournament is organized by the local Korean government and they cover all expenses for the weekend. They also provide shuttles from the hotel to the fields, delicious Korean lunches (kimchi be damned), and even provide alcohol and food at the party. The games were played on fields that were used when South Korea hosted the World Cup. It's actually kind of unbelieveable. Frisbee players aren't used to getting that kind of official sanction or support.

The tournament facilities and organization were top-notch, but there was a lot of other great things about this tournament. I like the idea behind Gnarly 9's tournaments. (For the non-frisbee players out there: Gnarly 9's are tournaments where each team is limited to 9 players. These tournaments place a special emphasis on endurance and team chemistry.) 9's tournaments force teams to come together and play as a unit. It is a great way to develop team chemistry on the field and I thought that our team did a great job of that this weekend. It was also pretty sweet to play a greater variety of teams. We played teams from China, Korea, and Japan. There was even a team from Guam at the tournament! The frisbee scene in Shanghai is great, but its really nice to see the whole international frisbee community in action.

I don't want to go on too long about the tournament because its over and done with now, but I feel like I should give the readers some sort of report so here goes... The first day consisted of 4 pool play games. We played a Japanese team and 2 tough Korean teams (during one of the Korean games I caught a forearm to the face while marking a huck giving me a nice black eye) and Beijing. Things were pretty messy in the first game, but we rolled to an easy victory (11-2 or so). The next game started off badly with the Korean team getting ahead of us, but at 4-2 we started hitting out stride and didn't look back. I think it was good for our team to go down a bit early in the tournament because it forced us to figure things out offensively (and prompted our effective to switch to vert stack). We ended that game and the next one with decisive victories at 11-6 before playing Beijing. This was a fun game to play in because it contrasted the differing styles of the two Chinese teams. Beijing is full of smaller guys (who have very good throws) and the Shanghai team is full of big runners (who can't throw to save their lives). We set the tone early in this game with some pretty aggressive D and lots of big hucks and rolled to an 11-6 win. It was a satisfying victory! On Sunday we finished up pool play against a team from Jeju Island and then faced Evil HuWa (Shanghai's second team) in the quarterfinals. It was fun to play both of those teams, but the best game of the day came in the semis against a very good Japanese team. I don't remember too many details from this game, but I do remember that both teams played really well. The IKU team took half around 7-5, but we stormed back in the second half to take the game around 13-11. It was a great comeback and I enjoyed the game immensely. Unfortunately, we met a much fresher Korean team in the finals and fell to them 13-7 or so (I cramped up at 4-4 in this game). On a whole, it was a great weekend for frisbee :)

Pictures will follow shortly. I'm still going through the 4398we849854789 pictures taken by Kevin!

- Jon

Jeju: Part I (The Hike)

I spent the past weekend playing frisbee, partying, and exploring Jeju Island. Jeju is a relatively large island located south of South Korea and northeast of Shanghai. It is a common honeymoon destination for Korean couples and, for some reason, the local government has also decided to sponsor an international frisbee tournament there. Bizarre... Anyways, I'm going to break my Jeju blogging up into three sections. This first section will be about my exploration of the island on Friday, The second section will focus on the frisbee tournament and the last part will be about the Rubik Cube party.

About 15 Shanghai frisbee players arrived together in Jeju early Friday afternoon. Our first impressions of Jeju were overwhelmingly positive. I had been told horror stories about the windy/rainy spring conditions in Jeju, but found the island surprisingly clear, sunny, and calm. It was gorgeous! After passing through customs in the airport, we hopped on a bus to our subsidized hotel rooms (thank you Jeju government - China, get on the ball!) Sun Beachy hotel was everything I hoped for (a bed) and more (buffet breakfast) and it had great views of the water to top things off. Side note: pictures will follow as soon as I can snag Kevin's memory card...

Our next stop on the island was a small Korean restaurant. Ordering food was damn near impossible due to our utter incompetence using the Korean language. In the end, we dragged the waitress outside and pointed at pictures of food on the wall. Sad state of affairs... In an odd way, this experience helped me get a better picture of my Chinese skills. In China, I am constantly aware of my language deficiencies. It is always apparent what I am NOT able to say as I fumble through conversations. But, here in Korea for the first time I felt what it was like to be completely useless in another language. It helps me see how far I've come in Chinese and how much I CAN say.

After lunch, Hugh and I wandered down to the water where we bought delicious oranges and explored the bridges and rocky beaches. I stopped ot read on a rock for 20 minutes or so as Hugh went boulder-hopping away. After finishing my chapter, I packed up my book and set off in search of Hugh. I followed the bends of the shoreline for over an hour exploring caves, scaring mountain goats, being scared by pheasants, and yelling for Hugh. I was always confident that I'd find him around the next bend, but around sundown I gave up hope and headed back. It didn't make any sense though - one side of the shore was ocean and the other was a cliff. Where could he have gone? Ah, some mysteries will never be solved. Anyways, the path was beautiful and I enjoyed myself immensely. If Jeju were a cab driver, I'd give it 4 stars.

- Jon

B-Boy Battle & Sake Bar

On Saturday night, I went to see a b-boy battle at Racks, a bar & billiards lounge. Lining the hallway and the floor were skater-looking kids, all Asian, with clothes that looked they had been graffiti and hats with a super stiff rim. For the first hour or so, kids were just goofing around and doing their thing....not much of a show. Which I thought was a huge disappointment....until I realized that the show hadn't started yet! Whew! There was then a combo of crew and individual battles. One crew had a girl, and it was awesome. She mostly did acrobatic stuff, but it was still hot. I got some great footage too....they are so talented and crazily strong and flexible. I am not worthy!!!

One slight disappointment was that I thought the famous Korean crew, The Gamblers, were going to be there. Ever since I saw the documentary Planet Bboy (which you should all see), they've been on my radar. Instead, one guy from the crew, "Bruce Lee," was a judge. At least I got to see his moves at the beginning...he was clearly the best one there.

Later I went to a sake bar with Geoff: 100RMB for all you can drink sake and Japanese Smirnoff Ice-esque beverages. I only had one square cup (yeah, weird) of sake before switching drinks… that stuff was mighty strong for my test buds. The best part, though, were the strange characters I met. One guy looked like the epitomized stereotypical California dude. And where was he from? You got it. When he said where he was from, I somehow heard Washington, so I asked, “Oh, you’re from Washington State?” He responded, “You’re from Washington State?” I said, “No, are you from Washington State?” Again, he asked, “You’re from Washington State?” At which point I gave up: “Yes, I’m from Washington State.” Not like I cared that much anyway…He now lives in Macau (which is the Vegas of China) and is in Shanghai doing market research: he sells diamonds for Ermenegildo Zegna, but only on sunglasses. You know the big bug glasses with studded shiny hints to add bling? That fact alone had me giggling for a while. But more inner laughter ensued when he pitched his “brilliant” idea for a play. He had no plot line, no beginning characters. Just the first two lines of the theme song: “The nights of Shanghai! The lights of Shanghai!” It’s now stuck in my head, so he may be on to something. Silly boy.

After some short yet comical side conversations, another guy comes over to me (mind you, Geoff has abandoned me at his point and is nowhere to be found). Somehow, he gets the idea that Geoff has a crush on me, and though he does adore me, I’m sure….he’s more like my brother than anything else. I tried to deny it to Sir Creepy, as he closed in on me and squinted his eyes all dazed-like, but he wouldn’t budge. That started the story of lies. I just started making stuff up, most of which I can’t remember, but it was really fun to start spewing out fun stories and making up random stuff about me (e.g., I only date Asian and Black guys…Sir Creepy was white, so it seemed convenient). Somewhere in there I did mention that I had a boyfriend, but the creepiness prevailed. The best part was his jacket: an MC Hammer style gold silk jacket with two giant fish on the front boob area…and it was reversible!!! Ha! He even took it off and flipped it inside out to show me. It was all I could do to not laugh…

Later, he asked for my number (persistent bugger), and for some reason I gave him a wrong number: I changed the last digit of my actual number. I know, I know, I should’ve just said something like, “No, sorry…” But I didn’t…and here’s the kicker: he got another digit wrong in addition to the fake one. So I could’ve given him my real number and he still would have gotten it wrong!

Overall, a splendid day.

- Em

Eco Design Fair

On Saturday, I volunteered at the Eco Design Fair, which showcases green products that use organic materials and are environmentally and socially responsible, sold by vendors at little stands. There was organic produce, all natural toothpaste, travel packages for eco-tours, and more. I MC-ed the fashion show, which highlighted really beautiful clothing from a bunch of different designers and stores that use natural fibers, no dyes, organic processes, etc. A huge bonus was that I also got to wear a smokin' hot black dress (boobalicious-ness was a bonus) and a silky coral scarf. I also got my make-up done....so indulgent in girlyness, I love it! I also got free lunch (a delcious falafel wrap)...bonus.

Then I took pictures and paroused....clearly, I bought some stuff: delicious Australian yogurt, yogurt cake, yak cheese, and a t-shirt from the organization Roots & Shoots, which develops organic gardens in Shanghai and was founded by Jane Goodall, who is a rockin' lady.

To top it all off, it was such a gorgeous day! Super warm, beautiful and sunny, a light restorative breeze - it made me so happy! I'm really affected by the weather, which is a bummer since Shanghai is usually so cloudy and gloomy. But when a gorgeous day comes along, I feel so much more relaxed and positive and spontaneous and giddy. :) Don’t worry: I’m not completely devoid of smiles on cloudy days…at least I try not to be…

- Em

Dilbert

I love Dilbert and these two made me laugh:


Now I'm off to Jeju Island for a Gnarly Nines tournament! Hooray for frisbee and traveling!

- Jon